Senior Travel to Argentina

My wife and I have an “Argentine Son”(Alejandro) who lived with us for two years while finishing his high school education in the United States. Upon graduation we traveled with him to his hometown in Corrientes, Argentina. It was our first trip to South America and we dearly loved the experience. We spent a month with his family, including a week in Buenos Aires (BA).

The BA inhabitants are called “Porteños” (people of the port). The architecture in BA is characterized by its eclectic nature, with elements resembling Paris and Madrid. The city is broken up into little barrios, or neighborhoods, each one with its own local color and personality. The beautiful and prestigious Recoleta, trendy Palermo, commerce-minded El Centro, timeless San Telmo, picturesque Puerto Madero, and colorful La Bocaall contribute to the Buenos Aires’ culture and way of life. BA’s architecture contributes indelibly to life there as well. It’s a fun city just to stroll along, to explore each barrioand to enjoy some of the enhancing small cafés where you can enjoy a cup of strong coffee and watch people. In these small barrios you will find as well the ultimate destination for dancing to Argentine Tango.

The country is immense, wild and incredibly welcoming. Spectacularly beautiful and utterly untouched, it’s one of the very few places in the world where you can explore extreme landscapes from the comfort of luxurious small hotels and welcoming estancias, combining your hunger for wilderness with a taste for fine food and wine (Mendoza). There are tropical rainforests, immense glaciers, ancient archaeological sites, the snow-capped Andes mountain ranges, vast Pampas plains, and high altitude deserts. The infrastructure is great for tourists as many people speak English.

Should you have an opportunity to visit Iguazú Falls while in Argentina, go for it. The name comes from the Guarani or Tupiindian words meaning “Big Water.” Indeed, it is BIG! Here we strolled through a tropical rainforest humming with birds and butterflies to view overwhelming cascades of water that make Niagara Falls look small! It is one of the Top Destinations in all of South America. Iguazú Falls, called Foz do Iguaçu in Portuguese, and Cataratas del Iguazú in Spanish, lie on the Argentina – Brazil border and are a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. I say…”never pass up a World Heritage Site” anywhere in the world for each is a prime experience.

We strolled along both sides of the Falls for two days. They are taller than Niagara Falls and twice as wide with 275 cascadesspread in a horseshoe shape over nearly two miles of the Iguazú River. Tourists may take a boat from above the falls to where the water tumbles over. The best known portion is called Devil’s Throat, or Gargantua del Diablo and shoots a perpetual spray high over the Falls. Here one prays that the motor does not fail (but they do bring along a long pole just in case). You disembark onto a frail wooden platform to view the Falls from above. If you possess just a little “Spirit of Adventure” or care to live just a bit on the “Death Wish Side”, this boat trip may just trip your trigger. During the rainy season of November – March, the rate of flow of water going over the falls may reach 450,000 cubic feet (12,750 cubic m) per second. We found it to be scary, a challenge and a total blast.